Pete the Cat Gets Groovy with #TBCCrafters

September is on the horizon and that means one thing…Happy Cat Month!

Yes. September, oft known for Fall, Back to School and apples is also Happy Cat Month. To celebrate we created a new interactive station at the library: The Please TELL Me Discovery Station. Our new station should encourage readers to recreate a book, retell a story and use imagination to make the book come alive.

What other way can we celebrate cats than to pay homage to the coolest cat of all (well, ever since 2011)? We created a display inspired by Pete the Cat By James Dean and Eric Litwin. This display was inspired by pins from Pinterest (see the end of the post for the all of the links together.)

Supplies needed:

• Construction paper in white, yellow, red, blue and brown
• Card stock in white
• White printer paper
• String
• Laminator (if available)
• scissors
• tape
• string
• glue

A template of Pete is offered on the blog Christina Kinder Blossoms. I printed the Pete the Cat Template on plain white paper and enlarged it to 129% using the photocopier.

I colored Pete using crayons and colored pencils and cut his head and arms out.

Pete was given a shirt made from gluing two pieces of yellow construction paper together. The tops of the shirt were folded to make a collar. His arms and head were attached to a “shirt” using glue and he was placed on the bulletin board.

When enlarging the paper, a few of Pete’s shoes did not fit on the paper. The ones that were not cut off were colored red, blue and brown and laminated. A few extra white shoes (shoes not colored) remained and were also laminated. A pair were used as shoes for Pete and a third white shoe, along with the colored shoes, were taped to string and secured to Pete to the bulletin board to look like Pete was holding them in his paw.

In the book Pete steps in strawberries, blueberries, mud and water. Construction paper was used to make the items he stepped in and taped to the display.

Families visiting the library can interact with the display by reading the book and then retelling the story. To see instructions for this activity, please click here. There is also an activity to rhyme words that can be accessed by opening Pete’s jacket.

Please tell with Pete the Cat!